Highly sort after and COLLECTIBLE WATERMAN NO 7 KEY HOLE NIB.

[Cyril]

I have read many stories about this waterman BLACK KEY HOLE NIB. It was just a legendary pen and a nib that I had never seen.
But by chance I was bumped into this nib on a " Waterman 7 red ripple pen " that is bundled to be sold as on a repairing spare- parts on Ebay. The pen was uncompleted and no cap and only the barrel and the section as parts.
But oh boy , already many eagle eyes had attracted to this rare nib and the biddings had gone up to £450 plus and naturally many connaissurs are eagerly keeping their watch eye already. So I kept distance and thought I'll not bid for this.
So at last it was gone for a good price and hope it has that price as it is very rare find in Waterman collections.
WATERMAN "BALACK ROCK" But next time if I see I will go for that.

But I am sure the seller did not know what he was selling. The price had gone as everyone jumped at that when they had seen it every time . I am sure the seller has very little knowledge in what he sells most of the time.
I am sharing few images used on the listing.


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It is good to know about this legendary nib and who is having this pen and having used this nib?

I like to know any experiences and thanks for sharing.

[Pen Tom]

Wow, I've never seen a BLACK nib. I've had several of the PINK nibs and still have one. But they were in much better shape than this BLACK pen as a whole.
It seems clear that someone did not know what he had and did not treat it with the respect that it deserved.
And its a "7" making it better yet. (its not a 5

[Scrawler]

Wow, I've never seen a BLACK nib. I've had several of the PINK nibs and still have one. But they were in much better shape than this BLACK pen as a whole.
It seems clear that someone did not know what he had and did not treat it with the respect that it deserved.
And its a "7" making it better yet. (its not a 5

I have also not seen a BLACK. I have a very nice PINK 7, which deserves a better home than the black celluloid pen with mismatch Eclipse cap,it is now it.

[Cyril]

@Scrawler,
That is a good pen PINK 7. I have several Key hole No7 / No7 pens but looking for a No 7 Pink. That is my last wish to try that nib. You must find a right clip for your PINK & Pen and complete it. Good luck with it .

[Scrawler]

These are my 3 keyhole nibs. The one on the left is an English #5 flex stub signature nib. The middle one is Canadian #5 Medium in an Ink-Vue. The one on the right is a #7 Pink in a black celluloid body with the wrong cap.
keyhole.jpg

[Skip]

What years were these keyhole nibs commonly used? ~Might it be in the 1940's-50's? I used all different kinds of fountain pens (and wood handle dip pens) all thru elementary schooling in those years, and those keyhole nibs have given me a vague twinge of recognition (??) -And of course in that period Waterman was one of the better known, commonly used brands and was used just about everywhere. ~A new fountain pen (of various makes) was a standard inexpensive 'Christmas stocking' gift for me for many years...

[Scrawler]

What years were these keyhole nibs commonly used? ~Might it be in the 1940's-50's? I used all different kinds of fountain pens (and wood handle dip pens) all thru elementary schooling in those years, and those keyhole nibs have given me a vague twinge of recognition (??) -And of course in that period Waterman was one of the better known, commonly used brands and was used just about everywhere. ~A new fountain pen (of various makes) was a standard inexpensive 'Christmas stocking' gift for me for many years...

These are all from the 1930s and 40s. None of them were cheap school pens. The Canadian #5 and #7 were most likely correspondence pens, used for regular letter writing and journaling. The Canadian #5 is on an Ink-Vue which is one of the more complicated filling systems. The #5 flex stub was most likely intended for signing documents. Waterman was one of the dominant pen makers at the time.

[Skip]

Well I did see in an old time 50's ad Waterman pens that started at $5. ~But then in the 50's that indeed was slightly too expensive to be an everyday school pen for me, that's true. But surely in the 40's Waterman (or other brands?) must've been making less expensive keyhole-nibbed pens for school use? I can't believe they'd ignore that market..?
And what I currently often see as valuable collector's items (and rightly so), I can also remember as mostly being NBD everyday fountain pens back in the 40's and 50's. The biggest pen thing I remember for those times were the 'new' ballpoints. Everybody wanted one of those, and fountain pens were for the most part almost universally considered undesirable and obsolete...

[Scrawler]

Here are 3 examples of typical Waterman heart nibs of the period that would have been more likely school pens than the keyhole. You can see that they are much smaller. I do have examples of even smaller #1 size nibs on school pens made by other manufacturers.


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